they came quickly and directly; we were
advised of their start, and two days of uncomfortable excitement brought
us to the hour of their arrival. For once in her life Princess Heinrich
betrayed signs of disturbance; to my wonder I detected an undisguised
look of appeal in her eyes as she watched me at my luncheon which I took
with her on the fateful day. I understood that she was imploring me to
treat the occasion properly, and that its importance had driven her from
her wonted reserve. I endeavoured to reassure her by a light and
cheerful demeanour, but my effort was not successful enough to prevent
her from saying a few words to me after the meal. I assured her that
Elsa should receive from me the most delicate respect.

"I'm not afraid of your being too precipitate," she said. "It's not
that."

"No, I shall not be too precipitate," I agreed.

"But remember that--that she's quite a girl, and"--my mother broke off,
looked at me for a moment, and then looked away--"she'll like you if you
make her think you like her," she went on in a moment.

I seemed suddenly to see the true woman and to hear the true opinion.
The crisis then was great; my mother had dropped the veil and thrown
aside her finished art.

"I hope to like her very much," said I.

Princess Heinrich was a resolute woman; the path on which she set her
foot she trod to the end.

"I know what you've persuaded yourself you feel about it," she said
bluntly and rather scornfully. "Well, don't let her see that."

"She would refuse me?"

"No. She'd marry you and hate you for it. Above all, don't laugh at
her."

I sat silently looking at Princess Heinrich.

"You're so strange," she said. "I don't know what's made you so. Have
you no feelings?"

"Do you think that?" I asked, smiling.

"Yes, I do," she answered defiantly. "You were the same even as a boy.
It was no use appealing to your affections."

I had outgrown my taste for wrangles. But I certainly did not recollect
that either Krak or my mother had been in the habit of appealing to my
affections; Krak's appeals, at least, had been addressed elsewhere. Yet
my mother spoke in absolute sincerity.

"It's only just at first that it matters," she went on in a calmer tone.
"Afterward she won't mind. You'll learn not to expect too much from one
another."

"I assure you that lesson is already laid to my heart," said I, rising.

My mother ended the interview and resumed her mask. She called Victoria